Floss Friday #122

As with my quilting, I struggled to work on projects at Caitlin’s house. I was thinking since she now lives in a house instead of an apartment, that lighting would be better. Unfortunately for her, there is practically zero overhead lighting and I wasn’t prepared. Instead of stitching, I was doing.

I shared a lot of the things I did while in Vancouver and all the good food I had in my last post.

There are lots of photos. If you don’t feel like reading, take a peek at the eye candy.

Starts & Finishes

I had no finishes this week, but I did have one start which is exciting!

START: Quaker Happy Holidays by Oracle Tales on her Facebook Group

I downloaded this pattern back in 2021 but since I was still working on the Halloween one at the time, I did not start. BUT I did find this really cool silk thread by Carron that was Christmas variegated 12 strand thread. I have no idea how much I will need so at the time I purchased 3 skeins of this 6 yard thread. Knowing what I know now, I think I am going to have some leftovers. 🤪

This was originally a SAL so it came in pieces and with a lot of work I was able to organize it so I did not have to start in the center. After checking out what other people did, I decided to use this 18 ct “aida” which acts more like an evenweave and is very coarse fabric. It is the same fabric I got to do my Prairie Schooler Santas so I had bought a yard of it. It is called Khaki Davos??? I think. The Christmas variegated colors show very well on it.

I hope to work on one more time this December before putting it in the WIPGO 2025 pile.

WIP Updates

I had a lot of non stitch days this week and the days on the road were about a third of what I normally would stitch when home. Yet, I had a lot of fun visiting with family and friends.

WIPGO Project: Monthly Markings by Heart in Hand

While I had planned on doing all five nights while in Vancouver, this is the results of just my fourth night. Last week, I mentioned I discovered I didn’t space my monthly squares appropriately and now I am compensating for that year long error. 😝. The bottom border is going to work out just fine. Right now I am playing thread chicken 🐓 with the color I am using for the lettering. I think I have enough, but it will be very very close. This is definitely a delightful project that I am looking forward to finishing.

2009 Santa by Prairie Schooler

This particular Santa with the hockey gear and skates was what originally attracted me to the Prairie Schooler Santas. So of course, this was the one that I had to start with. She used ecru for the white and I wish I had thought of that for a few of my projects where I am stitching on a bluish white background. Ecru looks white but shows up so much better. I have been amazed at how quickly it is stitching up.

The fabric is supposedly an aida but it seems more like an evenweave to me. Each x has to be a certain direction or the thread slips out of the square and under one of the threads. A very coarse fabric. The color is fabulous though!

Winter Basket #3 by Hands on Design

For a hot minute, I thought I might finish this one this week. Alas, I discovered an error and had to do a lot of unstitching instead. At least, I got the section restitched so I didn’t go backwards for the night. I love these quilty block cross stitches. So much fun and the colors! Unfortunately, you can’t see the white in this picture. Trust me that in person, you can see it but this would have been a good case for using the ecru if I had thought of it.

2024 San Jose Temperature Library by Kristi’s Corner

It feels really good to be starting on the December book shelf. I was a little surprised to discover mostly two colors were used for the first 9 days of the month. You may notice, that there is a little backstitching to give a hint of a seperation of books. I’m still in love 😍📚

Fruit of Plenty (mfe2021sal) by Modern Folk Embroidery

I have a huge win with this project. I finished page 6 (of 9) last night and am officially two-thirds done! Whoohoo!!! I was originally planning to make this a wall hanging. Now I am thinking, I may get this one framed. It has been a real masterpiece and a true sampler where I have learned so much. It is so darn beautiful.

A Peek at Caitlin’s Finished Projects

The night I arrived at my daughter Caitlin’s house, she brought me her 2023 temperature project and asked me if I could finish it for her. She was struggling. I was unprepared for the task, so that meant a shopping 🛒 trip to pick up what I needed including an iron.

FFO Projects This Trip

I pulled down my handy dandy finishing instructions for hoops from Hands on Design to finish this one. I wasn’t thrilled with the hoop but as I had already researched the hoops; I knew there were not a lot of choices for an 11 inch hoop. The center was very wrinkled so I had to do some “pressing” (not ironing). Because it is mostly open in the center, it was pulling and wrinkling. Those of you who are quilters can probably understand how this happened. While I would have liked to decorate the hoop, I did not have the tools for that.

Honestly, Caitlin just wanted to display it. I found a top quality wool felt at Craft Warehouse in Vancouver that was so nice to work with but yet reasonably priced. The back is a little rough but you don’t see it when it is displayed. I ended up using Tacky Glue to glue the cover on the back and you know it seems pretty darn good!

The piece itself is just gorgeous! It was going to be my 2025 project until I downloaded the Moon Phases from Climbing Goats. Maybe 2026?

I forgot to take a photo of the front and I can’t seem to find a photo of mine to show you. But I also finished this hoop while I was there last week.

Projects already finished

These are some other projects Caitlin has made. I finished the map for her but she did all the others. Plus ⬇️

The Harry Potter project was her first project and she mounted it in a free floating frame. This advent project was a second one that was in a digital cross stitch magazine I have. She did a fabulous job and I lover her finish. I directed her to finish edges with fray chek and sent her these little bags and clothes pins I found. I just love this project. They put little chocolates for the two of them in each bag to share each day.

Happy Mail

I shared my quilting happy mail on Tuesday and now I want to share my cross stitch happy mail.

From Fat Quarter Shop, I received my next set of Lori Holt’s Stitch cards as well as the Winter 2024 Stitch Quarterly project. So many goodies!

Afterthoughts

Whew! That was a lot of sharing this week. Lots of goodies for you to check out.

I noticed that people are starting to work on their 2025 WIPGO Board (25 projects on a 5 x 5 board). Honestly, with the travel, I haven’t started planning much of 2025. We discussed a few months ago a few year long projects I am considering, but nothing has been decided. I will need to get on that this week.

Meanwhile, Looking to the week ahead I think I will be working on the following:

• Quaker Happy Holidays
• WIPGO project Christmas Calendar #4 & #5
• Santa’s House seems appropriate
• Finishing 2009 Prairie Schooler Santa also seems the thing to do
• Starting December Year of Celebration
• Work on Seaside Tiny Town
• WIPGO Project: Monthly Markings: Last night on it. I think this is going to take more than one night to finish. On December 1st I was feeling very confident in a finish. Not so much now.

This month my goals have been a bit of a mess. I always consider goals as a target and a direction to work towards. I try very hard NOT to judge myself. The only judging that normally happens is when I realize, that I continue to skip a goal. That alerts me to the fact that it really isn’t a goal and I need to remove it in some manner or scale back the expectations.

I have one more post before Christmas, but for those of you who don’t read the quilty post – Happy Holidays!!!!

Peggy Stockwell in San Jose, CA